History of Fort Omaha

Fort Omaha Walking Tour

As a result of a major confrontation from 1866-1868 between the U.S. Army and the Lakota (Sioux), the U.S. government signed a treaty agreeing that the Army would abandon several posts along the Bozeman Trail. By this ...

Fort Omaha Officers Row

Fort Omaha Walking Tour

Built in 1906, Fort Omaha’s “Officers Row” typifies the architecture appropriate for officers’ residences on an army post in the early 20th century. Large and impressively formal, the houses lack elaborate exterior decoration characteristic of residences of ...

General Crook's Headquarters at Fort Omaha

Fort Omaha Walking Tour

Upon the recommendation of Lt. General William T. Sherman, in 1866 the Adjutant General’s office created the Department of the Platte which included present-day Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Montana and a portion of southeastern Idaho. As departmental ...

Fort Omaha Balloon School

Fort Omaha Walking Tour

Until after World War I, no other method equaled a soldier’s ability to send intelligence information directly to the ground by telephone from an observation balloon.

Fort Omaha entered America’s balloon and aviation history in April 1909 when ...

Observation Balloon Training at Fort Omaha

Fort Omaha Walking Tour

After nine years of inactivity, Fort Omaha reopened in 1905 as a school for noncommissioned Signal Corps officers. A structure to house the army’s only dirigible (balloon airship) was completed in 1908, and the first dirigible flew ...

Fort Omaha Knights of Columbus Assembly Hall

Fort Omaha Walking Tour

During World War I, citizen participation in relief and aid societies was exceptional across America. Omaha’s Red Cross chapter led all cities in the country in per capita membership.

In addition to the Red Cross providing a canteen ...

Fort Omaha Guardhouse

Fort Omaha Walking Tour

To maintain discipline among a large garrison, Fort Omaha commanders strictly followed the military code of the frontier era. Facing occasional problems with drunkenness, insubordination, fighting and desertion, officers were quick to punish offenders before disorder spread.

Minor ...

Fort Omaha Post Exchange and Gymnasium

Fort Omaha Walking Tour

In 1880, nearly a dozen years after Fort Omaha was established, indoor hot and cold water bathing facilities were installed – three shower rooms for enlisted men and one for officers. By the end of the 19th ...

Fort Omaha Fire Station

Fort Omaha Walking Tour

Originally a filtration plant constructed in 1912, this building was remodeled and enlarged to become the Post Exchange Building in 1923. All incoming or outgoing calls, whether emergency or routine, would pass through the Post switchboard housed ...

Fort Omaha Quartermaster Depot

Fort Omaha Walking Tour

Even after the 1869 completion of the transcontinental railroad, the Army relied on mules and wagons to outfit its isolated posts. The Department of the Platte, headquartered at Fort Omaha, paid over $700,000 to acquire and transport ...